


coffee shops & curses

by leifstroganoff



Category: Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, M/M, Request Meme, also background zoey/autumn, leif is dumb of ass and tobin is pure of heart, zoey mo and autumn are there in the background
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25792150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leifstroganoff/pseuds/leifstroganoff
Summary: Leif is pretty sure he’s cursed. Or, well, he’s definitely sure he’s cursed, but it was kind of up to him to figure out what the curse was and he just… never did.
Relationships: Tobin Batra/Leif Donnelly
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	coffee shops & curses

**Author's Note:**

> this is part of a [request meme](https://coderbfs.tumblr.com/post/625534637444399104/fanfiction-trope-mash-up) on tumblr (which you should follow me @ coderbfs anyways heart eyes), which you can still send in if you want one! i have several in the works from the meme, so it might take a bit but im always looking for writing ideas!

Leif is pretty sure he’s cursed. Or, well, he’s _definitely sure_ he’s cursed, but it was kind of up to him to figure out _what the curse was_ and he just… never did. 

Living in a world of magic is not all it’s cracked up to be, he’ll tell anyone that within five minutes of meeting them. ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we could just exist? Like, no magic, no curses, no blessings?’ Not a lot of people agree with him, but not a lot of people’s parents pissed off the studied witch next door two weeks before they were born, resulting in a petty curse and a refusal to tell them what she’d done.

For the most part, he’s able to live his life normally, though, so whatever it was, it can’t have been too bad. Sometimes, he thinks he’s found it - ‘cilantro tastes really, _really_ weird, but… nope, apparently that’s just a gene people can have’, ‘alcohol will never taste good to me? Oh, no, I just don’t like beer, okay’, he’s even considered ‘maybe I was never cursed at all and the real curse is trying desperately to figure out what the curse is’, which he’d ranted out in a fit of frustration to his poor, poor co-worker once and was met with doubt as she wiped the counter of the coffee shop in preparation for closing time (which, maybe she would’ve been a bit more invested in what he was saying if she wasn’t currently doing the work he was _supposed to do)._

A huge part of him just wishes it had been something huge and terrible, so he could live with it and suffer instead of playing a constant guessing game of doubt. Though, one thing became clear as he got older (and as he tracked down the witch, who he found was actually a pretty chill lady, and begged her to at least give him a hint; ‘come on, dude, I didn’t do anything to you, that was all my parents. I don’t even like my parents!’); it had to do with _love._

Leif isn’t an expert on love. Nowhere near one, actually, considering every time he thinks he’s in it, it’s over as soon as it’s begun (usually due to dumb misunderstandings or, in the latest case, which he’d spent many days ~~crying~~ being totally cool and chill about, due to the other person having never liked him at all). He thinks maybe it’s easy to just assume the curse was about love so he can stop wondering and get on with his life and maybe live a little bit.

Still, no matter whether he’s ‘figured it out’ or not, he has to keep going with his life, or he at least has to keep _trying to._ So he works at _The Golden Gate Grind_ and he tries not to think about whether or not he’s gonna find out the one thing that could ruin his life at any moment.

The bell above the door rings, signifying a customer, and he has to tear himself away from his spiraling thoughts to greet them with a smile. It’s pretty late for anybody to be coming in, but the smile isn’t as fake as it usually is when he realizes it’s one of their regulars; Tobin Batra.

“Hey, Tobes, what’s up? The usual?”

“Yeah, thanks, dude. You would not _believe_ the day I’ve had, if I don’t get caffeine in my body ASAP, I might just straight pass out.”

“Mhm?” Leif’s already started making the drink (large mocha with four extra shots of espresso; he is far past wondering how this dude’s stayed alive as long as he has) as he listens to him talk.

“My boss just seems to think we’re some kinda like... robot workers or something, which would be _dope,_ don’t get me wrong, but _unfortunately,_ we’re not. I’ve not slept for more than two hours in a week, Donnelly, I might just keel over before this product launches.” 

Tobin’s been a regular for a couple years now, he works at a pretty big tech company down the street and if he doesn’t come in during the morning rush hour, he always stops by during lunch to fuel up for the rest of the day (or, in this case, at eight PM, right before they close, looking like he has a long night ahead of him). Leif serves him his ridiculously over-caffeinated drink, they usually at least talk for a minute or two if the shop isn’t too busy, and then he’s on his way and Leif can only hope he doesn’t have a heart attack the second he steps out into the San Francisco heat.

“Well, this might be a bit selfish, but I hope you don’t die.” 

“Why would that be selfish?” 

The mocha trades hands smoothly, in contrast to the blubbering that’s about to start just north of their hands. 

“Oh, I, uh, I just meant —“ Leif’s face is flushing red now, every word coming out of his mouth seeming to come straight from his brain with no filter. “I like - uh, you. No, I mean, I like seeing you around here. You’re… you’re a favorite regular. Of ours. All of ours. Not just me. Zoey, Autumn, Mo, all of us, we love you. Like you. Enjoy your company. Your patronage, I mean.” 

At least Tobin is smiling and not looking at him like he has something in his teeth.

“Cool. I’m, uh, glad?” The confusion registers in his voice, but it’s balanced with a smile and a chuckle. “I’ll see you around.” 

“Enjoy your…” He’s already left through the glass doors by the time Leif’s voice rings through the empty shop. “Coffee.” 

“When you’re done making heart eyes at our regulars, you need to approve payroll.”

His head whips up to the manager of the store, Mo, standing at the other end of the counter with his eyebrows raised. 

“I wasn’t --” 

“Uh-huh.”

“What’s up?” And now Zoey and Autumn have come out from the back, interests piqued.

“ _Tall, smart, and handsome_ here doesn’t believe that his entire body goes soft when Mr. Doe Eyes walks in.”

“Mr… Doe Eyes?” Autumn’s voice is raised in curiosity as she takes off her apron for the day, folding it over her arms. 

“Tobin?” Autumn makes a face of recognition, nodding her head and darting her eyes towards Leif. “You cannot tell me I’m the only one that’s noticed he has the eyes of an angel.”

“Well, I don’t think you are the only one.” Zoey’s smile has a mischievousness to it that makes Leif’s stomach twist. “Because _Leif,”_ And her voice goes into a sing-song quality as her finger shoves into his side. “Definitely has.”

“Don’t you two have a date to be on instead of teasing me about stuff that _isn’t even true?”_

“Isn’t even true? _Boy,_ you lose all cognitive function the moment he has said more than six words to you, we absolutely have the right to tease you about this.” 

“But you _are_ right, we do have a date to be on.” 

Autumn takes Zoey’s hand and smiles as they walk towards the door.

“Try not to yearn too much, it really messes with the vibes of the place, bud.” 

“I’m not _year--_ ” He realizes too late that they’ve already left and can no longer hear his denial. “I’m not yearning.”

“Keep telling yourself that.” Mo hangs up his apron behind the counter as they’re talking, looking over at Leif, who has at least started wiping down the counter in an effort to _look_ like he’s working. “Can you handle closing tonight? Mo’s also got a date and I plan on _bringing it.”_

“Yeah, I’ve got it,” He doesn’t look up from where he’s been wiping at the same spot. “Love must be in the air, huh?”

“Oh, pipe down on the pining, Leif-cake. It’ll come for you,” He’s sure the words are supposed to be a comfort, but his mind catches on the heinous nickname more than the sentiment. “It might come faster if you actually talked to him instead of sputtering out half-sentences, though.” 

Before he has time to be offended, Mo has already grabbed his keys from under the counter and is leaving the store with a ‘see you tomorrow’ and a knowing look and _God,_ he hates it but he hates it more that they’re all three _right._ He is an absolute mess whenever he’s talking to Tobin and he has absolutely no right to be, he barely knows him.

Except that’s not really true. Tobin’s been coming in for years now. They might not get each other on a deep, intimate level, but he knows his favorite color, he knows that his Mom left when he was young and that he’s been to jail for some less-than-smooth hacking. He knows that he has a younger brother and that, while he’d never say this to his face, he would easily and without thinking ruin the life of anyone who dared fuck with him. He knows enough about him to know that he’s caring and kind, if a little abrasive and lewd sometimes. He knows enough about him to acknowledge that he does resort to stuttering out half-formed thoughts and filler words when he comes in because he’s too preoccupied by the butterflies in his stomach and looking in those deep, brown eyes that it feels like he could get lost in. 

His realization is interrupted by the bell over the door again, signalling someone coming in.

“We’re clo--” He turns around to see Tobin’s come back, still clutching his drink from minutes before. “Uh, we’re closed.”

“I know.” Leif doesn’t try to hide his confusion, knitting his eyebrows together. “Uh, Joan _mercifully_ let us go early tonight, but, uh,” He raises his coffee cup with a shrug. “I’m gonna be up for a while.”

Leif doesn’t respond, the cogs in his brain working triple time to try and figure out what that means and why the hell that means he’s coming back into the shop past closing. 

“So… Uh, I was _wondering_ if maybe somebody else, who might, I don’t know, have an extraordinarily unhealthy sleep schedule, might wanna… spend some time together. Get to know each other.” 

Leif’s tired eyes move away from Tobin’s and look upwards in thought, still seeming absolutely clueless.

“You. I mean you. I’d like to get to know you.”

“ _Oh._ Me?” Tobin nods, the small smile on his face expressing the sentiment of ‘oh my god, you really are clueless’. “Why would you wanna get to know _me?”_

“Oh, Jesus Christ, you really are…” He cuts himself off, moving up to the counter with his hands shoved into his hoodie pocket. “I like you, dude. I’ve been dropping hints for, uh… _a while._ It seemed like that wasn’t working, so I guess a more… _direct_ approach was necessary.”

“You _like me?”_

“Dude, why else would I pay six dollars for a coffee every day? I’m not a coffee guy. I would happily get my caffeine from the two day old coffee at work. I do happen to be a _lanky, handsome guy_ guy, though.”

“I’m sorry, I’m like four sentences behind. Are you asking me out?”

A laugh spills from Tobin’s lips and he has to take a second to just smile at his absolute cluelessness. “ _Yes,_ that’s what I’ve been _trying_ to do.”

“Yeah, I - _Yes._ My, uh, my sleep schedule is… perfectly fine with spending some time together. Getting to know each other. I just, uh, I gotta finish closing and then I’m… I’m so free. Free as a bird.” _Does he know he can stop talking?_

“Alright, tight. Should I just…” Tobin gestures to an empty table near him. “Wait here, or?” 

“Yeah, yeah, that’s fine.” He’s already started counting down the register when something clicks in his head. “You think I’m handsome?” 

_“Dude.”_

And he’s pretty sure that maybe there was never a curse, after all. Because this feels hopeful. _This feels good._

**Author's Note:**

> leave a comment to make me feel very very good and i will probably re-read it abt 20 times to motivate me to write


End file.
